My oldest son has an engineering brain. He loves figuring out how things work, and he enjoys computers and strategy games. Enter Turing Tumble, a game that allows you to build a marble-powered computer. This set is for engaging the brain to construct mechanical computers, see & feel how computers work, and play at the same time! The set contains one gaming board, sixty-one repositionable parts, and a 100+ page puzzle/comic book. Turing Tumble retails for $69.95 and is ideal for ages eight to adult. It can be used for single or group play.

The gaming board and parts are easy to use and figure out, but the book provides basic assembly instructions. After the instruction page, a page gives basic explanations about the concept of a computer chip and how it works. There is a link where the user could learn more about how computers work online. The book then shifts to the anime comic book section of the game. It introduces the character Alia who has a “helper bot” named REN. The story begins by explaining that Alia is on a mission to repair a communication satellite in space. The comic has her going to the satellite and fixing it but starts experiencing some critical problems. This sets up the first challenge for the user of Turing Tumble, and on page 13, we see that Alia is in front of a giant computer system with balls and parts and decides that she may be able to fix the machine. Now is when the game starts.

The next several pages are a series of challenges for the user. It sets up the rules and then dives into the first challenge called “Challenge 1: Gravity.” Each of the challenges provides an objective, required output, starting setup, and available parts. This is provided with a visual diagram and list. The first challenge has the answer provided to give you some guidance on achieving the objective and required output. Once challenge one is completed, challenge two is provided with the same type of information. As the book continues, it mixes the comic in with the challenges, each challenge proceeding to become more difficult. There are a total of sixty different puzzles. At the end of the book, you can find a link to a community forum for Turing Tumble, where you can find more puzzles and share ideas of your own. Additionally, the back of the book contains all the solutions for the sixty puzzles.

My fifteen-year-old son immediately got everything out and decided to play with the game board and pieces for a few days before actually trying the included challenges. He was fascinated with how he could use the different pieces to create different results. He packed it up and even took it to his grandparents’ house one weekend so he could explore it more with his grandpa. He worked through the first several challenges and then decided he preferred just designing his own. He said that the comic book aspect is distracting, and he wished there was a version with only the challenges themselves. He likes that the pieces can easily be stored in the tray that comes with the set. He said his brother broke one of the pieces as he was trying to put it in the tray and was concerned that it would not hold up very well with a lot of use. He also asked if he would ever be able to get any replacement pieces for the ones that get lost or break. I looked at the website, and I was pleased to see that there are replacement parts available for purchase. That is a definite pro to this set as it seems we always lose pieces with games or puzzles.

My ten-year-old son also enjoyed playing with the game. While his brother prefers designing his own setup, my youngest preferred using the challenges provided. I, too, liked using the provided challenges when I tried it out myself. I agree with my oldest that the comic book was distracting for us, but I think that is because we do not read comics, nor are we fans of the anime style of art. That is my personal preference, though, as I think many children would enjoy the comic book aspect.

Overall, I think this is a superb game for working on critical thinking skills. While the price is a bit steep for my budget, knowing that there are replacement parts and an online community for exploring the game further makes it more reasonable in the long run. Anyone who has a child who is into computer science and coding would probably really love this set. Even though neither I nor my youngest are into engineering or computers like my oldest son, we enjoyed the game aspect of it with the challenges to be completed. I think this would make an excellent gift for children of all ages, but especially the teenage range. There is also the option to purchase a virtual pack of the game, which includes all the Turing Tumble plans, CAD files of the parts, and a pdf of the comic book. It allows you to build your homemade copy or make modifications to the parts. This would be a fun bonus purchase for anyone who falls in love with the game. I highly recommend Turing Tumble for any family wanting to feed a computer science lover’s creativity desires, fuel the passion of a budding engineer, or provide fun critical thinking opportunities.

-Product review by Lisa McKinney, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2021